Tag Archives: fox news

Rolling Stone has a slideshow illustrating how the same GOP talking points are repeated throughout the day by hosts and pundits on Fox News. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s undeniable now: Fox News is propaganda.

I love it when far-right demagogue hypocrites like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are proven wrong or, even better, lose at something. It’s just awesome.

The latest victory of reason over sheer ridiculousness comes courtesy of Isaac Eiland-Hall, a gentleman from Panama City, Florida. In an obvious parody of Beck’s over-the-top, completely unfounded fear-mongering, Eiland-Hall created a website called http://www.GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com (I’d link to it, but it’s since been taken down); the point being that Beck never denied taking part in the (non-existent) attack, so it must be true! The classic Fox News fallacy turned against its best-known proponent.

Anyways, after learning of Eiland-Hall’s joke, Beck filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), claiming “that the site was registered in bad faith and violated trademark rules.” On October 29, WIPO ruled in Eiland-Hall’s favour, vindicating his satirical approach and confirming Beck’s hypocrisy.

Then, having proven his point, Eiland-Hall sent Beck a letter, relinquishing control of the site (probably why it has since been taken down). Read the letter here, and bask in its well-deserved superciliousness (it’s even better if you imagine Beck’s expression while reading it). Ha!

[Update: The site lives! Head over to http://gb1990.com/ to see what all the hubbub was about. And many thanks to the man himself for letting us know.]

Ben Westhoff posits one of the most ridiculous theses I’ve ever heard. He does his best to make the case that Southern Rap is unfairly maligned (much like Fox news) and that it’s really not as bad as people make it seem. I guess he’s even trying to argue that it’s better than Fox news (which really shouldn’t be that hard)

While I’m a huge fan of particular kinds of Southern hip hop (UGK, OutKast…) I also hate on some of the stuff that’s come out of the dutty south (No Limit Records, T.I…).

If you need any proof about why Westhoff is an idiot, listen to this paragraph:

“Meanwhile, rather than exercising their famous “tolerance,” liberals blew a gasket after FOX News debuted in 1996, and they continue to believe the network is more biased and somehow lesser than CNN or MSNBC. But more likely, FOX just doesn’t fit their stereotypes of what a cable news channel should be. Take perky FOX Report host Shepard Smith, perhaps the Soulja Boy of news anchors, who doesn’t seem like he could hold an intelligent conversation on Russian politics and appears to wear eyeliner. But, I would argue, the more you watch him, the more you can’t help appreciating his silliness and his infectious energy.”

Comparing someone to the Soulja Boy of news anchors is by no means a positive statement. It demeans all the parties involved, especially the reporter. And it’s fully documented that Fox tends to flow right of center (though Rupert Murdoch himself endorsed Obama).

The part that bothered me the most was this:

“Is it really so crass to embrace your dancing shoes over your thinking cap? Should you really need to be an expert in Eastern mysticism to like an album?”

Westoff seems to make the common argument that concious rappers are elitist. What’s worse, he seems to group in rappers like Nas and Ghostface with this crowd. No one’s going to accuse Ghostface of rapping like Mos Def anytime soon, and I think that the hyperbole of accusing him of needing Eastern mysticism just reduces the strength of what minimal argument Westhoff had.

There is nothing wrong with a club banger. We here at 4080 will be on the dancefloor the same as anyone else when someone ridiculously catchy comes on, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

There’s definitely times when it seems like Westhoff is acting tongue-in-cheek, but for the most part I assume he’s serious. If so, he’s wrong. If not, then he sure needs to work on his humour.